State reinstates Montville lieutenant's access to criminal justice database
Montville – The state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection has reinstated Montville Police Department Lt. Leonard Bunnell’s access to the Connecticut On-Line Law Enforcement Communications Teleprocessing system.
Bunnell’s rights and privileges to the system were suspended in 2012 after a state police investigation found that he improperly ran background checks through the computer database. COLLECT is used by police to find criminal justice data and is used for tasks such as background checks.
The system has more than 15,000 certified users, according to ct.gov.
An Oct. 10 letter from state police Commanding Officer Lt. Michael J. Thomas, Troop E-Montville, and Lt. Scott Smith, Troop C-Tolland, states that “effective immediately,” Bunnell’s “rights and privileges as an authorized user of COLLECT and NCIC (National Crime Information Center) information has been reinstated with no restrictions.”
Police in Connecticut access NCIC through COLLECT, according to state police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance.
Mayor Ronald McDaniel said Wednesday that he lobbied for DESPP Commissioner Dora B. Schriro to lift the suspension so Bunnell “could better do his job, have access to the information that he needs.”
“I felt that (the privileges) needed to be reinstated,” said McDaniel.
Vance said that in the event of an investigation into local police conduct, discipline of police officers is up to the town. He said that lifting the suspension would be the prerogative of town officials.
In addition to the suspension of his use of the system, Bunnell faced two weeks suspension from work without pay when his misconduct was discovered. At the time that the town announced the suspension, there were 38 instances under review in which state police investigated whether proper protocol was used when accessing COLLECT.
Bunnell is the highest ranking officer at the town police department and has worked for the town for more than 30 years.
Bunnell could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
t.townsend@theday.com
Twitter: @ConnecticuTess
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